Strike two against Banfield Pets (
Guess what? Standard customer service queue. Not a direct line to a human.
They took my money, they are NOT taking my afternoon. I will give them one more chance. They can contact me at any of the means available on my profile page to speak to me directly. I would advise them to read the actual complaint before contacting me, so that they are at least moderately familiar with the situation.
Who thinks they’ll actually follow through?
The rewrite on the now-erroneously-titled “Motor City Mafia” piece is going really well. I’m hoping that the romantic tension that I’m adding isn’t ridiculously clumsy, and will instead add some depth to Seth and Susan. If I’m really lucky, they’ll be easier to relate to when all is said and done.
I’m quite pleased at how smoothly the notebook/journal conversations are going with the new subject matter. Less forced by a great deal. Also, the characters became crazy in a whole different way, and it’s a way that’ll let them push their way through the story, instead of me pushing them. I’m looking forward to seeing how Sol will turn out with the new story focus, as well. I think his personality will shift less, but he will react to Seth and Susan with a whole new intensity.
The S-names were accidental, but I’m totally sticking with them. It’s a great quirk of the story.
Here’s a little teaser:
“Seth took another drink from his cup of coffee. Every bone in his body was chilled, like he was afraid, or about to jump out of a plane. In contrast, his mind was placid. His emotions were jostling him around; he’d never felt like this before. This entire conversation had been to distract Susan from her family drama, and his emotions had no call getting all riled up over the way her hair was brushing against her cheek. He was supposed to be safe for her. He would not add drama to her life.”
Over the past few days, I’ve taken a few surprise opportunities to write. Kids are back to school (two counties apart), as is the wife. So, there’s a lot of driving, a lot of schedule craziness, and not a lot of ability to block out time for any one thing.
Luckily, I have a fantastic wife. She makes sure I get some time to myself whenever it’s possible. I’ve made sure that once I’m done with my job hunting while I’m out, I’ve put pen to paper.
I’ve made some progress in The Glass Crown, and I’ve finished revising the second Adam’s Name piece. Got it sent off to the Alpha Readers, too. The first bit will take a lot longer to rewrite, but I’m in a Detroit mood, so it may see quite a bit of progress in the upcoming weeks.
After that, I’ll need to decide whether I want to try to publish them separately as short stories, together as a serial novella, or together as a novel. Decisions, decisions.
So, I had:
– ColecoVision
– Sega Dreamcast
– PlayStation 2
Now, add to the list:
– Super Nintendo Entertainment System
I’ve got quite a few games for the SNES, some PS1 and PS2 games for the PS2, and four or five games for the ColecoVision. That’s a big enough library to work through for a while. I would like to pick up something for the DreamCast, though. The local independent gaming store didn’t have HydroThunder… I wonder if the intertubes have it.
I found two night-light replacement bulbs, wait, scratch that, LED night-light replacement bulbs, for the price of four incandescent. Each bulb has three LEDs in it.
This pleases me to no end.
TV/VCR combo with broken VCR – check.
Coleco Vision hooked to coax through adapter made by brother from twenty-five year old parts, powered up, and tested – check.
Video and stereo-to-mono y-adapter plugged into the front auxilliary port and into RCA/S-video switch box – check.
Sega Dreamcast plugged in, powered up, and tested – check.
PlayStation 2 plugged in, powered up, and tested – check.
And I thought getting rid of the SETI@Home graveyard would lessen the prevelance of ancient, and yet awesome, electronics in my basement cave. Huh. Now I’ve just got to get this SNES fixed…
I am no longer a Transformer collector.
The last of my collection is on eBay.
Nikki: So you only have a few more Transformers until you’re done eBaying.
Dave: Well, no, because I have Matt’s stuff to put up, and the stuff that
Nikki: I mean, you’re almost done with your stuff.
Dave: OH! It’s an accomplishment, that’s what you mean!
Nikki: Yes. Does it feel like growing up?
Dave: I dunno. Does growing up feel like half painful and half I-don’t-know-what-the-hell-is-going-on?
Nikki: Yup.
Dave: Then yeah, it feels like growing up.